They're playing the fame game

Dawson, Sutter, Rice head class of veterans, writes Dan McGrath

January 01, 2006|By Dan McGrath.

None of the first-year eligibles makes this ballot, not even Ozzie Guillen (it's for players, not managers). Orel Hershiser's 1988 season was off-the-charts dominant, but he never had another like it, and one magnificent year doesn't lead to Cooperstown, as Roger Maris could attest.

I thought the young Will Clark had Hall of Fame talent, but he joins Keith Hernandez under the heading of promise not totally fulfilled. Dwight Gooden falls short for self-inflicted reasons, which is sad.

So with no first-timers likely to get in, holdovers who have been close in the past have a better chance. I vote for Bruce Sutter, Jim Rice and Andre Dawson every year and will do so again, though Dawson's case seems to be losing steam.

Roland Hemond argues persuasively for Goose Gossage, which counts for a lot with me, and how does one vote for Sutter and bypass Gossage and Lee Smith?

Tough call. It comes down to a gut feeling that Sutter, by the slimmest of margins, was the best of them when each of the three was in his dominating prime. And he won the Cy Young Award in 1979, which means he was his league's best pitcher that year.

That's why I have stayed away from Bert Blyleven and Jack Morris, parting ways with colleague Phil Rogers, my baseball guru. Blyleven had 287 victories, 60 shutouts (!) and a million strikeouts, Morris (254-186) was the best big-game pitcher of his era and Tommy John had more victories (288) than either of them. But there's not a single Cy Young Award among the three.

No matter how good he was for how long, shouldn't a Hall of Fame player have at least one year when he was his league's best?

I'll leave it at Sutter, Rice and Dawson and will have no objection if Gossage, Smith, Blyleven or Morris gets in.